Happy New Year! We continue to celebrate the incarnation–when God became a person that actually lived and breathed and walked this earth. God, who created all living things, became God’s own creation. Most of the frenzy and commercialization of this holiday has subsided and we are settling down for our black-eyed peas and a quiet … Continue reading New Year 2023
I finally got a walk in the woods over the weekend. I literally hugged the trees-the Slash Pine, The Loblolly, and the Longleaf. I am finding living in the concrete of the city a little hard. I’m a mountain girl, but if I can’t have a mountain, please give me trees. Trees are Life. We … Continue reading Trees Are Life
The Awakening HourMorning Prayer For God alone my soul in silence waits. Ps. 62 I am not a morning person, but I know the joy of rolling out of bed to greet the dawn. The reward far surpasses the sluggish resistance my mind puts up. Rumi explains it well, “Maybe a dawn breeze has blown … Continue reading The Sacred Pauses on Retreat
Most of my friends are introverts. I am not. Most of my friends like that they can stand behind me in crowds or at parties and I’ll cover and do all the talking. They drive, I talk, greet, and meet people. They like to stay home, I like to be out. Plus, I’m close enough … Continue reading What I See When I Can’t Leave
Here’s my class of 2022 and how we looked on our last day of Zoominary. We even have Zoominary t-shirts! Seminary in a pandemic is hard just as it is hard for anyone right now no matter where they find themselves. Yes, I find, like many, that Zoom is mentally taxing and this pandemic has … Continue reading Zoominary–Junior Year Complete
Well, I never thought my second semester of seminary would be upended by a pandemic. We are cautioned about our expectations and are warned that many things will surprise us in this journey, but it doesn’t seem unreasonable to have pandemic at the top of the list of “Things I Did Not Expect.” So, after … Continue reading Staring at an Empty Tomb and Zoom
We all began the semester talking about grades, comparing test scores and associating our future as priests based on the performance we were giving in the classroom. The struggle was real, though, for these first semester postulants and it wasn’t long before I started hearing more resigned comments like, “C is for collar!” By the … Continue reading Here for Formation
So, here I am in my new seminary digs! For a Franciscan with a vow of simplicity, this is a little bit of heaven. You can’t have a lot of “stuff” in a 400 sq. ft. apartment and I welcomed the forced decluttering of my life. A friend drove out with me and helped unload … Continue reading The Move
I am ever so grateful that women like my mother and +Kai (and MANY others) have paved the way rather smoothly for me. Continue reading The Significance of an Ordination and Consecration of a New Bishop
(Want to help support Alyssa? Click here for her GoFundMe page) I call myself a Late Bloomer, or am even known to refer to this change as “living my life backwards.” The real message is never think you know what God is going to do when you try to live your life dedicated to the … Continue reading The Transition
Magdalena's Musings 